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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Congrats Ana! This is great news!

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GenElect Network @genelectnet.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Call for contributions for an edited volume on Gender and Elections in Europe (from us @cerifowler.bsky.social @jess-smith.bsky.social @rosieshorrocks.bsky.social). Please submit suggested chapters to genelectnetwork@gmail.com . Deadline is 30th October!

Gender and Elections in Europe: New Directions in Research

This edited volume aims to set a new research agenda for the study of gender and elections in the UK and Europe. Contributors will be invited to identify emerging research questions, reflect on conceptual and methodological developments, and consider how the study of gender and elections can respond to changing political contexts. The volume is intended to create space for the kinds of broader reflection that journal articles rarely accommodate, but which are essential for shaping the field's future direction. Chapters need not take the form of full empirical papers; the volume will also accommodate more theoretical or reflective pieces, case studies of individual countries or elections, and methods-focused contributions.

The field has expanded rapidly in recent years, particularly beyond the United States, yet no dedicated edited collection has focused specifically on gender and elections in the UK and Europe. This volume addresses that gap by bringing together scholars to reflect on the current state of the field and to identify the most important questions, approaches, and challenges for future research. The volume seeks contributions from researchers who use both qualitative and/or quantitative approaches to study any aspect of gender and elections.

This project is especially timely. Across Europe, women's presence in electoral politics has grown, but this progress has unfolded alongside persistent inequalities, new forms of resistance, and broader backlash against gender equality. At the same time, scholars are developing new methods, data, and theoretical perspectives for studying gender and elections. This volume offers contributors an opportunity not only to assess what has been learned so far, but also to consider where the field should go next.

Chapters can be co-authored or single authored. We are happy to help develop ideas for chapters with contributors after the initial submission.

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Politics at Southampton @sotonpolitics.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We'll be at @psaepop.bsky.social #epop2026 this week in Liverpool, with ten colleagues involved in 14 presentations over the two days. Come along and say hi!

The list of PAIR colleagues presenting on Friday 18 September:

09.30-11.00 (TR 5) Immigration, Citizenship & Public Attitudes
Will Allen: Visualization Choices About Refugees Have Delimited Impacts Along Partisan Lines

Will Allen: Immigrant Occupational Essentialness and Preferences for Welfare Redistribution

09.30-11.00 (TR 4) Affective Polarisation & Political Emotions
Lala Muradova: Regulating Emotions and Affective Polarization

11.30-13.00 (TR 4) Gender, Disability & Candidate Evaluation
Jessica C. Smith: A Turning Point for Women? A Systematic Review of Voter Bias against Women Candidates

Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte: Do Women Make the Far Right More Acceptable (and Therefore Electable)?

11.30-13.00 (TR 5) Parliament, Knowledge & Public Trust
Chris Butler: Citizens’ Knowledge of Parliament and Their Sources of Knowledge

Will Jennings (attending co-author): How Well Do Politicians Understand Levels of Political Trust in Their Country?

Saturday 19 September (morning)
09.30-11.00 (Flex 2) The 2025–26 Elections in Britain & Ireland
John Kenny: Candidate Authenticity and the 2025 Irish Presidential Election

09.30-11.00 (LT 3) Economic Voting & Political Accountability
Will Jennings: An Experimental Test of the Costs of Governing

11.30-13.00 (TR 4) Measuring Political Attitudes & Behaviour
Rob Johns: Upgrading the Standard Measures of Left-Right and Libertarian-Authoritarian Attitudes

11.30-13.00 (Flex 1) Radical-Right and Populist Trajectories
Daniel Devine (attending co-author): Where Did You Come From, Where Did You Go? The Trajectories of Radical Right Support in Britain

Saturday 19 September (afternoon)
14.00-15.30 (Flex 1) Occupation, Status & Political Values
Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte: Small Men

16.00-17.30 (TR 5) Mental Health, Psychological Traits & Political Persuasion
Rob Johns (attending co-author): Public Perceptions of Politicians with Mental Health Problems in the UK

16.00-17.30 (Flex 2) Democratic Institutions, Innovations & Citizen Voices
Paul Kindermann: Politicising Democratic Innovations? Evidence on the Divided Public Resonance of Mini-Publics

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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

If journal editorial is of interest to you - replace me at @jeppjournal.bsky.social as Associate Editor. I've loved working with JEPP. The team, papers, and reviewers have been awesome. Happy to answer questions if you have any. editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com/editor_recru...

editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com

Associate Editor needed for Journal of European Public Policy

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Politics at Southampton @sotonpolitics.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Congratulations to our colleagues who have been promoted as of 1 August: Ingi Iusmen, Ming-chin Monique Chu, @cintranatalia.bsky.social, @pspada.bsky.social, @williamlallen.bsky.social, and Yifei Yan! Their expertises and impacts on scholarship and students span politics, IR, and public policy.

A graphic showing the names and new titles of six colleagues at the Department of Politics and International Relations (PAIR) at the University of Southampton who have been promoted in this year's cycle.

Ingi Iusmen is Professor of Governance and Policy
Ming-chin Monique Chu is Associate Professor of Chinese Politics
Natalia Cintra is Senior Research Fellow in Race and Migration Politics
Paolo Spada is Associate Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Democratic Innovations
William Allen is Associate Professor of Political Science
Yifei Yan is Associate Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy

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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Universities' response to reduced revenue is to further reduce the capacity to raise revenue 🙌

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Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

🚨New paper out in JEPP @jeppjournal.bsky.social 🎉 Women are underrepresented in local politics, and the problem isn't only their election but retention. In a survey experiment with 500+ English councillors, we find that family-friendly council policies increase women's static ambition. 🧵

The picture shows the article abstract: Women’s representation in European local governments remains stagnant at around one-third of councillors. One explanation for this longstanding gender gap relates to structural barriers blocking the supply of women candidates, including working practices which are not compatible with caring responsibilities. Yet, so far we do not know whether measures governments can implement to remedy this, including reimbursing care expenses and remote working, increase women’s political ambition. To answer this question, the study uses a survey experiment fielded to local councillors in England (N = 534). The survey manipulates exposure to a bundled set of family-friendly policies in a hypothetical council to identify the causal effect of such policies on static political ambition (councillors’ willingness to run for their current level of office), and explores heterogeneous effects by gender. The introduction of family-friendly policies significantly increases women’s, but not men’s, willingness to run for office again. Analysis of open-ended survey responses further reveals that women councillors more frequently brought up the difficulty of balancing care and work with a political role, while men were less likely to mention this. Overall, the study contributes new evidence about the important role that family policies might play in closing gender gaps in political ambition.

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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

The total line up is at least Laurence Fox, Tommy Robinson, Nick Tenconi, Paul Golding, and Luke Jahn. This was not community anger at policing. It was an organized, national far-right riot.

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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Awesome achievements by some fantastic colleagues 🏆👏

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Stephen Holden Bates @stephenholdenbates.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

UK Parliamentary Studies 2026 beano.

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Gender and Inequalities Centre at Southampton @gain-centre.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Professor Silke Roth of Sociology @silkeroth.bsky.social kicks off our Spring Into Methods event discusses coalition building as a strategy to achieve intersectionality and her long career in applying intersectional approaches to gender and inequality research.

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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I use R, and I did design my whole MySpace page in HTML in the early 00s... £3.9bn here I come.

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Lotte Hargrave @lottehargrave.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

New piece from w/ @hannahbunting.bsky.social & @jess-smith.bsky.social on the Gorton & Denton byelection, and what it might tell us about British politics. We cover turnout, late-deciding voters, gender gaps & the continuing fragmentation of the party system 🧵 theconversation.com/late-decider...

theconversation.com

Late deciders, higher turnout: what the Gorton and Denton byelection taught us about voters

High numbers of undecideds may partially explain the late swing to the Greens.

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Gender and Inequalities Centre at Southampton @gain-centre.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Join us tomorrow at our Spring Into Methods event, where we discuss how intersectionality can frame methods in gender research. PGRs and PhDs are very welcome! www.southampton.ac.uk/politics/new... CW: Dr Hunt's talk will include a brief discussion of domestic abuse.

southampton.ac.uk

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Lotte Hargrave @lottehargrave.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Check out the post below by @philipjcowley.bsky.social, who’s written a great summary of ongoing work by me, @hannahbunting.bsky.social, @cerifowler.bsky.social, @jess-smith.bsky.social, and @annasanders.bsky.social on gender gaps in “don’t know” responses👇

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Emilia Y Belknap @emiliabelknap.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Delighted to share my first single-authored article, now published in Parliamentary Affairs: “Targeting the cereal woman: Campaigns, gender & Scottish independence” 🆓 Open access: tinyurl.com/85cxsefm @hansardsociety.bsky.social @academic.oup.com #GenderPolitics #BritishPolitics (🧵👇)

tinyurl.com

Targeting the cereal woman: Campaigns, gender, and Scottish independence

Abstract. How do political campaigns construct and mobilize voter identities in high-stakes constitutional contests? This article examines the 2014 Scottis

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Lotte Hargrave @lottehargrave.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

🧵 Thread on new research on gender gaps in “don’t know” responses Some of you will know that my stellar coauthors @hannahbunting.bsky.social @cerifowler.bsky.social @jess-smith.bsky.social @annasanders.bsky.social & I have been working on a large-scale project on “don’t know” responses in surveys.

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Lotte Hargrave @lottehargrave.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

🚨New article🚨 What do people want from political leaders in times of crisis, and are those preferences gendered? Interested? Then check out our new Electoral Studies paper @jess-smith.bsky.social @viktorv.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social @hannahbunting.bsky.social @carolineleicht.bsky.social

e.bsky.social

Bluesky

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Ceri Fowler @cerifowler.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

📣 Call for Papers: GenElect Annual Workshop on the Study of Gender and Elections University of Manchester, Jan 12th-13th 26 Deadline: 5th Dec 25 Send us your papers on gender and elections, public opinion, parties, representation! @psaepop.bsky.social Abstract submission here: lnkd.in/d2AQFYxN

lnkd.in

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

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Centenary Action @centenaryaction.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Yesterday our steering group member Dr Sarabajaya Kumar told the @commonsproccom.parliament.uk that call lists could make Westminster more predictable, transparent & inclusive—helping MPs with caring responsibilities, disabilities or health conditions take part fully. 🧵1/3

Photograph of Dr Sarabajaya Kumar giving evidence to the Procedure Committee

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UK in a Changing Europe @ukandeu.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

"The data shows no evidence to suggest that younger men are more inclined than other demographic groups to support the British far right" ✍️ @turnbulldugarte.com & @emiliabelknap.bsky.social analyse the demographics of Reform voters and argue the gender gap is marginal ukandeu.ac.uk/most-british...

ukandeu.ac.uk

Most British young men reject the far right - UK in a changing Europe

Emilia Belknap and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte explain their analysis on the demographics of Reform UK voters in the UK. They argue that while the dominant narrative is that young men are the most likely ...

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Gender and Inequalities Centre at Southampton @gain-centre.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Are you interested in researching gender and inequalities? Join us for our Gender and Inequalities Research Collaboration Event next month, 5 Nov 2025. More details in our infographic below. If you're interested in attending, please email us at gain@soton.ac.uk so that we can get an idea of numbers!

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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Submit your abstracts to our ECPG Section for Newcastle 2026 👇

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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

A must read right now by some brilliant colleagues 👇👇

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Maarja Lühiste @maarja.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Super excited (and relieved!) to see this paper finally published. Both men and women politicians experience incivility and, overall, the more famous they are, the more abuse they receive. BUT women in Europe receive uncivil tweets even when they're not well known www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

When Does Fame Not Matter? Examining Gender Differences in Politicians’ Social Media Experiences | Politics & Gender | Cambridge Core

When Does Fame Not Matter? Examining Gender Differences in Politicians’ Social Media Experiences

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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Why are working class people under-represented in legislatures? We propose one potential mechanism: working-class individuals are *perceived* as less likely to achieve political success, and are subsequently 'pragmatically' discriminated against. We provide an experiment in the UK to test it:

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Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) @behaviourresuk.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

🔍 Are you an early career behavioural researcher? Our Accelerator proposals offer up to £50,000 for innovative projects! 💡 Perfect for kickstarting your research journey. Applications open July 1st—closing August 12th, 2025. Get ready to apply! #ECR #Innovation #BRUKFunding

usher.ed.ac.uk

BR-UK Commissioning Fund To Launch | Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) | Usher Institute

BR-UK’S Commissioning Fund will open to applications on July 1st, 2025.

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Gender and Inequalities Centre at Southampton @gain-centre.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Early start 🌅 for Day 2 of our conference with @psawomenpol.bsky.social with @sotonpolitics.bsky.social Alum 🎓 @carolineleicht.bsky.social at Uni of Glasgow on her research on the glass ceiling and glass cliff of Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris in US election coverage.

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Gender and Inequalities Centre at Southampton @gain-centre.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Khatera Yekta of @sotonpolitics.bsky.social presents insights on her research on women’s participation in political negotiations in Afghanistan from 2001-2021.

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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Excited to see our conference getting under way! Even if we are in a basement when it is 25 degrees outside... ☀️

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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Are you interested in social class? I've two working papers which show: 1️⃣ Using actor recordings of different accents, that people derive class from accent and this causally influences trait evaluations 2️⃣ That class-based descriptive representation improves support for the political system. 🧵

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Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

🚨New working paper🚨 "Take a Load Off? Not for Mothers" Time & money help mothers offload physical household labor —but not the mental load. Cognitive labor is an “unbargainable burden.” w/ @helenkowalewska.bsky.social @leahruppanner.bsky.social 📄 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Feedback welcome!

Abstract: Globally, women continue to bear a disproportionate share of unpaid household labor. Recent research highlights that gender disparities in cognitive labor—the “thinking work” required to anticipate and monitor household needs—are even more pronounced than in physical household labor. Traditional theories attribute these inequalities to time availability, relative resources, and gender norms. However, it remains unclear whether these frameworks apply equally to cognitive and physical household labor. This paper introduces a new theory of gendered cognitive stickiness to explain how the domestic mental load is distributed. We argue that cognitive labor’s invisibility and lack of clear boundaries make it uniquely resistant to negotiation. Even women who successfully bargain their way out of physical chores remain disproportionately responsible for cognitive labor. Using a large-scale survey of 2,133 partnered, heterosexual U.S. parents, we find that while women’s employment and earnings have reduced their physical household labor, these factors do not alleviate their cognitive household burden. Mothers perform nearly all of this work, regardless of their time or resources. Cognitive labor remains an “unbargainable burden” for women, exposing a hidden constraint that suggests progress toward gender equality in the home is even more incomplete than previously recognized.

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Julian Garritzmann @garritzmannj.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

I AM HIRING 2 postdocs (5 years) in my @erc.europa.eu project "The Politics of the Latent Educational Cleavage" at @goetheuni.bsky.social @infer-frankfurt.bsky.social! German call: www.fb03.uni-frankfurt.de/170856927.pdf English call: www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/170858269.pdf Please share

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PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group @psawomenpol.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Our final panel of the conference kicking off now with @carolineleicht.bsky.social on feminist humour in political comedy

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PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group @psawomenpol.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Kicking off our panel on Gender and the Elections of 2024 sponsored by @politicsjournal.bsky.social with @jennpiscopo.bsky.social on gendered ambition penalties

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Politics at Southampton @sotonpolitics.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

❗ FREE Summer School on 'Declining democratic health: Methods for diagnosis, treatment, and recovery' with us! 🗓️ June 23-24 📍 Southampton More details: www.southampton.ac.uk/socsci/news/...

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PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group @psawomenpol.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

A reminder if you are enjoying the Women and Politics panels at #PSA25 we have our own conference in June in partnership with Southampton Uni's @gain-centre.bsky.social ⭐ Now with EXTENDED DEADLINE for abstracts of Fri 25th April ⭐ Get your papers in now!

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Meryl Kenny @merylkenny.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Whoop whoop all around for @edinburghpir.bsky.social & pals at #PSA25 - starting with @psawomenpol.bsky.social co-winning specialist group of the year (co-convened by Leah McCabe & @jess-smith.bsky.social)

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Jessica C. Smith @jess-smith.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Pints and prizes last night 🍻 ⭐ Honoured to receive the Joni Lovenduski Prize for outstanding professional achievement as an early career scholar at the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social AGM last night AND thrilled that @psawomenpol.bsky.social won Specialist Group of the Year! 💥 💫

two women receiving a prize at a ceremony

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PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group @psawomenpol.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Kicking off the last panel of the day is Alyssa Martin on the Carers Parliament from the QualRep project (www.qualrep.org)

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PSA Women and Politics Specialist Group @psawomenpol.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Reminder to our members at #PSA25 today. Our AGM will be at 12:45pm in Hall 8B (The International Convention Centre). Feel free to bring your lunch with you 👍

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Rikki Dean @rikkidean.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

FAO: ECRs at #PSA25. Do you research democratic attitudes? Are you looking for a job? Then this might be of interest.

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Chloe Challender @chloechallender.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Happy to have co-authored the chapter in this book on ‘Women in the House of Commons’. Thanks to eds @ameakin.bsky.social @estrangeirada.bsky.social @louisevthompson.bsky.social and co-authors Rosie Campbell @jess-smith.bsky.social @profsarahchilds.bsky.social

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Gender and Inequalities Centre at Southampton @gain-centre.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

🚨CFP🚨 Troubled Times: Gender & Politics in the 21st Century Join the GAIN Centre’s Women & Politics Annual Conf. exploring backlash, resistance & feminist futures. 📅 Abstracts due: 11 April 2025 💻 Submit: psa.women.politics@googlemail.com Spread the word! www.southampton.ac.uk/politics/new...

southampton.ac.uk

Call for Papers: GAIN Hosts Women and Politics Annual Conference

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Emilia Y Belknap @emiliabelknap.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Join us! This one’s going to be good. Feminist scholars, activists, thinkers—come through! Abstracts due 11 April. 🌍💜 #genderpolitics A much-needed space to reckon with backlash, resist, and reimagine gender politics. Send us your work! 💥#polisky

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